The Trump Bunch

Until just last week, I had never seen The Apprentice in any of its incarnations. However, I was home feeling less than stellar and just wanted to zone out in front of the TV. Little was on, but I caught a rerun of the latest season of The Celebrity Apprentice and I have to say, I got hooked.

If you've been living on Amish farm and haven't heard of the show, various celebs of varying amounts of notoriety use their business sense and talents to win challenges with Donald Trump as the puppetmaster, uttering the famous "You're fired!" at the end to a disgraced celebrity. One reason I think I never watched the show is Trump himself. Basically, I have always thought that Trump's persona is annoying. He embodies the stuff I think those of us on the outside hate about heterosexual men: He's egotistical, hot-headed, loud, and acts like all women want him. However, he is mostly in the background in the show, so the celebs really take center stage.

Some of the celebs I've never heard of (Maria Kanellis) or vaguely heard of (Carol Leifer) or don't care about (Bret Michaels). However, there are some celebs on the show I do enjoy: Cyndi Lauper (great singer, interesting personality), Sharon Osbourne (she's really trying to assert herself as a shrewd businesswoman) and Curtis Stone (one of my favorite TV chefs and sexy to boot).

I can not write about this show without mentioning the most notorious candidate: Rod Blagojevich. That's right, the disgraced governor of Illinois and all-around douchebag. He spent much of the first episode introducing himself and adding that he was totally innocent of charges. He comes across very calculating and very much the politician. He may have thought that appearing on the show would provide some sort of good PR, but I think he overestimates his likability. It's an interesting comment on American society and media that a disgraced politician would appear such a show.

I will say Blago did provide some humorous moments with his scandals. The celebs are divided into 2 teams and were supposed to run a restaurant and make money in tips. The teams with the most money won. Each celeb was told to call their contacts to see if any big donors were willing to show up and shell out a nice tip. When someone off camera asked Blago who he called he said something to the effect of, "Anytime I call anyone asking for money, they usually hang-up the phone!"

The Celebrity Apprentice is on at 9pm on tonight.